Snap, Crackle, Pop

This is the story of how with the help my wonderful friends Snap, Crackle, and Pop (aka: Rice Krispies Cereal) I became a renouned baker of Mokwena Ward, my neighborhood in Serowe, Botswana.

It all started with the idea to make rice krispy treats for my family. Many trainees have cooked American food for their families to facilitate the cultural exchange that is oh so important to Peace Corps. Me, with my limited repertoire of pancakes, French toast, and mac –n- cheese, decided to focus instead on dessert, and what could be better, or easier, than a gooey, crunchy rice crispy treat!

Using the only marshmallows sold in Serowe, bright pink ones, I successfully made a batch of ooey gooey treats! My family absolutely loved them and raved about them all weekend! My mother made sure to save some for other relatives close by. Over the weekend I even had personal visits from family members to tell me how delicious my desserts were!

Come Monday, after the rhino sanctuary, the raving had died down. I was studying in my room as my mother knocked on my door and said in her heavily accented English, “KEFILWE, let’s go do…something.”

Thinking she was just going to show me something outside, I grabbed my jacket and headed out the door. My aunt was waiting outside with her car. We get in the car and start driving away with no identification of where or what we are doing. A Few kilometers away, we end up at my aunt’s house. We help her unpack her groceries…and as I’m lifting a bag I catch a peek at what else but a box of rice krispies! And lo and behold there are marshmallows too!

My aunt loved them so much that she bought the ingredients and brought me to her house just to teach her how to make them! Even better, as I was doing the demo, there were two random young men laying tile in her kitchen. They watched the whole time and got to lick the bowl after!

Dessert isn’t much of an item here and I doubt any of my host family had ever had these pink sweet treats before. This was such an endearing experience and made me feel so loved within my family. As much as I am learning from them about Batswana culture, Peace Corps is also about sharing American culture so it was incredibly exciting to be a part of this cultural exchange! Who knew that Rice Krispy Treats would be such a bonding experience!